


Tom Thumb: the True Story

by yuletide_archivist



Category: The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-19
Updated: 2006-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 03:03:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1628186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What really started the Tom Thumb story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tom Thumb: the True Story

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Roadstergal

 

 

"So, tell me again, Jacob; why are we here?" Will gritted his teeth and pulled his cloak tighter. Ahhh, winters in Germany! Why the two of them ever thought they should stay in their motherland when they could be somewhere warmer was beyond him. But, he was a sucker for any new story Jacob wanted to research. Family; can't kill them, can't ditch them for a beach and scantily clad native girls.

"His name is Tom," Jacob sighed as he reminded his dear brother yet again why they were watching the little cottage at the edge of the woods. Well, hovel really. "The man at the bar said they had an unusually unusual child."

"Woman."

"No, I was told the child was a boy."

"The man at the bar was a woman."

"No..."

"Yes."

"Oh!" Jacob said brightly. "That explains what he offered afterward."

"What?"

Jacob shushed his brother as voices wafted their way to them from the home's one window.

"But, dad!" The whiney, tiny voice made Will smile. Teenagers are the same everywhere.

"No." An older voice stated.

"I will bring the cart. You can rely on that. I'll get it where you need it."

"Son, it isn't safe! The horse will step on you before you can leave the yard."

"Stop worrying. Mom will harness Jill and I will sit on the edge of here ear. Then all I have to do is call out commands."

The brothers could almost hear the sigh the father made. "I suppose we can give it a try."

"You won't regret this!"

"Famous last words," Will said quietly. He groaned as he stood up. "Let's go. There's a roast and ale waiting for us back at the inn."

Jacob closed the notebook he had been scribbling in and smiled wryly at his brother. "There's also Gerda..." It never failed, no matter what village they visited, his brother always found the only attractive, single girl in town. And he? He always ended up with the Helgas. He shivered a little, and it wasn't because of the weather.

The brothers trudged down the muddy road. Like most villages they visited, there was little actually going for the town. An inn and a few small homes made up the "bustling" downtown area. Will missed real towns where his boots didn't get stuck every other step. "Jacob?"

"Yes?"

"How about a story about roads that eat travelers?" Will stopped for a second to retrieve his boot. A loud "plop" sounded as he pulled the well-worn boot free.

"I have a better question," Jacob said. "How big is this boy?"

"What?" Will said while he wrenched open the inn's door.

"You heard him. He was going to sit in the horse's ear. Now, unless their horse is unbelievably big..."

"Which we would have noticed at their home..."

"Which we wou-Yes! Exactly. The only horse there could barely be called a horse. So, how big is he?" By this time they were seated by the main fireplace.

"You're talking about that Thumb boy, aren't you?" A wizened old man said from a dark corner of the room. He giggled once and then began to cough. "A right freak of nature, that one is."

The inn-keeper's wife came by with tankards of ale for the brothers. "Though his mother was a lucky one. No birthing pains with him. I was with the midwife for an entire day waiting for Hans to pop out."

Jacob choked a bit at that mental image. Sadly, the more he tried to think of other things, the clearer the image of her huffing and puffing became. "How big is he?" Jacob asked the room.

"It's better to be surprised sometimes," the old man said.

***

The next morning the brothers headed back out to the Thumb's home. It was even more sad looking in the daylight. They could tell the mother had done what she could to make it seem more homey; a few small shrubs grew around the house and a batch of very dead flowers were hung on the door. But it was far from the quaint village cottages that Jacob described in his stories. In his stories every house has dappled sunlight highlighting the flower beds and vegetable gardens as birds sung their joy from the trees. Will sometimes envied his brother's ability to see the magic in the smallest thing. His skills turned towards petty grifting; not something to tell the folks about. Granted, his fast talk and deals were what made it possible for Jacob to live in his world. Will shook his head. He was thinking too much again.

Just then, they saw the mother harness up the horse. She stroked Jill's head a few times and put her hand on the horse's left ear. "Now you be good," she sniffled.

"I'll be fine," a boyish voice could be heard coming from the horse.

"I wasn't talking to you dear heart." The mother smiled as she gave the horse a pat on the rump to get her moving. The horse plodded along, with a faint "gee up" coming from her ear.

"What is going on here?" Will wasn't sure who he was asking, since Jacob was fully focused on the horse and cart. "The horse is acting as if her driver was riding in the cart."

"That can't be right," said Jacob as he looked up at the sight. "Let's follow it."

"Of course. Strange, disembodied voice comes from a horse and you want to follow it."

"Well, yeah," Jacob shrugged.

"Need I remind you about that gingerbread house you wanted to check out? Or that king that tried to convince you naked was the new black?" Will saw he was getting nowhere.

The cart made a bee-line into the forest, exactly to where the wood cutter left the finished logs. "Told you I could do it!" The boy's voice proclaimed. His father took something from Jill's ear and placed it on a nearby hay bale.

The brothers Grimm were speechless when they got close to the Thumbs. Well, speechless wasn't right. There was no physical way to make those boys speechless; but they did slow down.

"It's a wee little man!" Jacob said with all the wonderment as a kid who saw Santa Clause. "Will? Look! He's just tiny!" He knelt down next to the boy. "Hi, little guy!"

The tiny teen crossed his arms. "Oh, 'little guy'. Yeah, I've never heard that before."

"Now Tom, play nice," his father admonished. "You remember what I taught you..."

"Some people are a little slow?"

Will had missed most of the conversation. All he could hear was the gold coins he would soon bathe in. "I could make you a star!"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"A star?" The boy brightened up.

"Come with us," Will said while pouring on the charm. "We'll make you rich by exhibiting you in large towns!" He turned towards the father. "Please allow him to come with us."

"No," replied the father, "he is the apple of my eye. I just couldn't lose him."

Tom Thumb, however, when he heard of the bargain, pulled at the bottom of his father's coat. "Please dad?! I promise I'll come back! Just let me see a little bit of the world."

The father breathed a deep sigh. He nodded once.

"Oh father! Thank you!"

The father said nothing more. He took the reins and turned towards his home.

"Can I ride on your hat? I so want to see the country as we go." Tom reached towards Jacob. Not seeing any harm in it, Jacob picked up the boy and placed him on his hat. "So, where do we start?"

Will turned completely around with his eyes closed. He stopped when facing East. "This way. We go this way."

"Fantastic," the boy deadpanned. "Had I known all it took to make it rich was to turn in a circle..."

Will rolled his eyes as he headed off. "I was just getting my bearings." They walked until the sun set. Tom spent the whole time asking Jacob what of his many skills should he show off in the exhibition. By the time they were ready to look for a place to spend the night Jacob was ready to feed Tom to that cat two villages over that liked to wear shoes.

Tom slid off Jacob's hat and down his coat. He was glad these two brothers helped him see more of the world. But... They expected him to sleep on the ground? That was no way to treat a star. He could do better on his own.

When the brothers were looking away Tom jumped into a mouse hole. He called up to them once before hiding deeper in the hole. "Sorry guys, I'm just meant for more than this."

Jacob and Will just looked at each other. On the one hand, no riches. On the other hand, no possible jail time for killing the kid. "Let's go Will."

Will nodded and picked up his satchel.

They could hear Tom giggling from the underbrush. "I'll be a Superstar!"

"Do me a favor Jacob?"

"Anything Will," the brothers trudged on towards the next village.

"When you write about this?"

"Yes?"

"Make him get eaten by a cow or something."

"Of course."

\--The End--

 


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